from the oh-really-now? dept

As anyone who followed the SOPA fight remembers, GoDaddy was an early (and vocal) supporter of SOPA. This was mainly the work of its General Counsel, Christine Jones, who (prior to SOPA specifically being released) testified before Congress in support of a law sounding very much like SOPA (supporting making search engines, service providers, credit card companies and others liable). When SOPA was released, she wrote an op-ed strongly in favor of it for Politico (who appear to have made it disappear), calling the bill "a welcome step in the right direction." She did this even though -- under the bill's initial definition -- GoDaddy itself was clearly "dedicated to theft of property."

As you probably remember, the internet backlash was strong, and GoDaddy had to drop its support, giving the company a major black eye. Since then, a very large percentage of the management team has changed, including Jones, who left the company a few months after SOPA collapsed.

Christine made it a priority to establish Go Daddy as a leader in the fight to make the Internet better and safer for users, particularly children. She has testified numerous times before U.S. Congressional Committees in Washington, D.C. about various issues related to the Internet. She also helped drive federal Internet-related legislation, including laws to keep the Web safe from child predators and rogue online pharmacies. For example, she helped push through bills such as the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act, the Protect Our Children Act, and the Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act. These bills were signed into law by President Bush in October 2008 and have been used by law enforcement and others to shut down illegal online drug sellers and to prosecute online child predators.

Nothing about SOPA, you see. But she does highlight these kinds of grandstanding laws that have great titles that sound like they're trying to make the internet safer from evil things like fake drugs and sexual predators. In reality, most of these bills have done nothing particularly useful. That's because they were all about getting headlines so politicians could claim they were doing something about some "big problem" without tackling the actual underlying problems. In some cases, they have serious problems. The "Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators" made all registered sex offenders register their emails in a weak attempt to keep them off of social networks (even when the "offenders" did not have a history of being predators or anything like that).

These are the kinds of bills that someone supports because they want more political cred, not because they have any interest in actually solving real problems. Either way, it just seems really wrong for a person who was heavily involved in supporting SOPA in the early days to now be running for political office arguing that she was focused on making the internet "a better place."

dick hea dof the year award goes to

GoDaddy's history is worth exploring

They are no friend of the Internet -- and never have been.

Their early history includes copious self-promoting spamming; they then graduated into mass registration/hosting of spammers, phishers, malware, etc., while simultaneously making a grandstanding show of their utterly ineffective "abuse desk" -- which frequently forwarded complaints TO THE ABUSERS. And of course they've supported any kind of legislation -- no matter how awful for the Internet -- that they think will boost their profits.

So this is really no surprise: it's exactly what we've come to expect from the scumbags at GoDaddy.

Why no screed every time a co-sponsor (not a mere private sector witness) ins for office? There must be close to 100 senators and congressmen who sponsored these bills, yet no mention. Why is this woman being singled out for special treatment. How come no diatribe when the actual co-sponsors of the bills run for re-election?

Just what we need, more short sighted politicians!

She supported a law that would have made her own company be declared 'dedicated to the theft of property' and gotten it shut down for breaking the law! We need more short sighted politicians like that! Imagine all the trouble she can cause running a whole state as governor!

-She could borrow tons of money for lavish and expensive things for the state, and then be SHOCKED when she realizes the state has to pay that money back years later, and has to pay big amounts in interest every year on that money to!

-She could shut down state services that she and everyone else benefit from, and then be SHOCKED when she can't use those state services! For example, she could make the decision to shut down all the state run rest stops to save some money by not having to clean and maintain them (a few states have done this in recent years) and then be SHOCKED when out campaigning that she can't use the public rest stops because they're closed!

-She could raise taxes on everyone, and then be SHOCKED come tax day that she's owes more in taxes then she expected!

-She could pass laws that make things she does everyday a criminal act, only to be SHOCKED when the police arrest her, and her attorney general files criminal charges against her!

Ever notice that the people championing these legal travesties are always lawyers or folks conned by them? I've always thought that the process of getting a law degree removed the soul and conscience of the student receiving it. This just proves it.

Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act

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